COMCAST PAYS POLITICIANS TO PRESSURE FCC ON NBC-UNIVERSAL MERGER THEN HIRES FCC COMMISSIONER
Global Revolution 1: American Revolution 2: Day 48: Communication 1
IronBoltBruce’s Kleptocracy Chronicles for 3 Nov 2011 (g1a2d0048c1)
How many examples of greed and corruption must you see before you act?

In January 2011 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 4-1 to approve the merger of Comcast and NBC-Universal. This “created one of the largest media conglomerates in American history, which critics warn could limit the variety of voices heard by the public and threaten the Internet’s role as a forum for free exchange of information.” Their OK came after FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski received this letter urging approval signed by 97 members of Congress:

Of those 97 Democratic and Republican politicians, 88 “had received money from Comcast’s political action committee, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.”

“Putting pressure on an appointed group of commissioners like the FCC isn’t actually that different from pressuring Congress. ‘As a matter of fact, it can be harder for the public to trace,’ [Craig Holman of Public Citizen] said. ‘It’s quite difficult to analyze much of the lobbying activity for instance when it comes to working with FCC commissioners or others like that doesn’t get reported, it very frequently is not disclosed as lobbying activity.’

Comcast spent more than $75 million on federal lobbyists alone in the last ten years, with much of that sum coming in recent years… Last year alone, during which much of the merger process took place, the company employed 109 federal lobbyists and lobbied both houses of Congress and the FCC. The money a company spends on lobbying is important, Holman said, but even more important is the amount of money they can stuff into political campaigns. ‘Besides direct campaign contributions, which are traceable from PACs, they will do bundling activity, which is very difficult to trace, and in many cases untraceable,’ Holman said. ‘They will also now with Citizens United do direct corporate expenditures through third party groups, which are entirely untraceable, but their lobbyists will be on the Hill letting the lawmakers know what they’re doing with their money.’

While waiting on FCC approval of the merger in the 2010 election cycle, Comcast upped the amount of money they were directly donating through their political action committee, spending $3.5 million on political campaigns… ‘There can also be the direct campaign contributor factor to any lawmakers, they can pull the strings of members of Congress and get members of Congress to apply pressure on FCC commissioners to vote a certain way on various issues, and they do,’ Holman said. ‘The agency regulations are every bit as important as lawmaking, every lobbyist worth his or her salt knows that.'”

Shortly after voting to approve the Comcast/NBC-Universal merger, FCC Commisioner Meredith Attwell Baker resigned her government post and went through the revolving door to become a high-paid lobbyist for Comcast:

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WHICH POLITICIANS ARE TAKING CASH FROM VERIZON? IT’S EASIER TO ASK WHICH ONES AREN’T!

IT IS NO COINCIDENCE THAT OF THE LAST 14 U.S. PRESIDENTS, 7 HAVE BEEN DEMOCRATS AND 7 HAVE BEEN REPUBLICANS.

Our Kleptocracy-controlled media focuses on America’s two-year election cycles as if who wins or loses in the swinging of the pendulum was a matter of life or death, when in fact even at the Presidential level it makes no more difference than the outcomes of Monday Night Football, American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, Hillbilly Handfishing or the trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor. U.S. elections are staged primarily to give Sheeple the illusion of control so they will (a) vent their frustrations and expend their energy, emotions and resources supporting or attacking the Puppet on the Left hand or the Puppet on the Right, and consequently (b) never recognize and challenge the common omnipotent Puppetmaster.

There was no real change in 2008. There was no real change in 2010. There WILL be real change in 2012, but it won’t be coming from tele-brainwashed couch potatoes, manipulated voter lists, rigged voting machines or predetermined ballot counts. It will be coming from us…

Upcoming Events

hey oakland folks, we're going to be filming an open discussion and workshop on copwatching at OGP on Friday at 10am – 12pmits been a long while since @WeCopwatch has operated in the Bay. even longer since i participated in the project. Breakfast (Bagels and coffee?) on us.— Harun ⚑☪⚑ (@ArsalaiH) May 24, 2018 64736

Special Community Showing with Wade Rathke, Founder and Chief Organizer of ACORN. The ORGANIZER is a film about people who have dedicated their lives to the hidden, usually message and always controversial job of building power for the powerless. It’s also a very human story about organizational tension, personal tragedy, betrayal and ultimately resilience. The film is about how ACORN as a political force the poor, marginalized and forgotten was built.64448

This Critical Resistance workshop explores the role and history of policing in the U.S., the way it has impacted different communities, and how people have resisted and challenged its inherent violence. This workshop also goes over how we can reduce our reliance on policing by highlighting the various ways that building up community strength and practices lead to true safety that does not depend on law enforcement. We are asking for a $5 – 20 donation, however no one will be turned away for lack of funds. 100% of donations … Continued

EB All Member Meeting at Sports Basement, Berkeley. RSVP (free) here. Mission and Goals Indivisible East Bay is a chapter of the Indivisible movement. We are a grassroots organization focused on stopping the Trump administration’s policies by: Lobbying our group’s Members of Congress (MoCs) with office visits, calls, emails, and rallies. Lobbying our MoCs on topics of laws, policies, and nominations. Collaborating with other Indivisible groups and sharing resources for meetings and events. We will also focus on the following, in order of declining priority: Lobby our representatives at all levels (state, local, county, party, … Continued

Feed The People! The last Sunday of every month attendees of the OO GA get together a little earlier than usual, at 3 PM (2 PM during cooler months) to share some food with each other and the community. There should be a table, utensils/plates, meat and veggie entrees and whatnot, courtesy of the Kitchen Committee (such at he is), so just bring yourself, or something to share as well if you’d like. After the meal the Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets Sundays at 4 PM at the Oscar Grant … Continued

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 4 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we tend … Continued

We document current events, make films together, steward an editing suite and share a film equipment library. We also host film screenings, often with local directors, and put on an annual short film festival for independent Bay Area filmmakers. Our goal is to make the digital filmmaking accessible – no overpriced college degree or certificate program required! We are also a good group to reach out to if you’d like to screen a film at the Omni. We can be reached at [ liberatedlens@lists.riseup.net ]. We usually meet in the … Continued

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